The Girl from the Past
by TimeMistressAquaKlaroline4ever
Summary: The team has to unravel a decade old conspiracy when the body of a girl from Zack's past is discovered. When an incident at the scene leaves Zack in a coma, forgotten memories resurface that may hold the answers to everything, if only he can find the strength to wake up again. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I love all the Bones characters, but Zack is my favorite and I think he deserves some more love. My idea of that involves a lot of angst, but also plenty of fluff. I won't promise regular updates, but I'll write whenever inspiration strikes. Right now it's pretty strong since I'm watching Bones again at the moment. I apologize ahead of time if anyone seems OOC. I'll try to capture their personalities as best I can.**

 **This takes place sometime in season 2, before Zack gets his doctorate, because he looked so adorable with his shaggy hair. I don't own any of the characters. If I did, Zack wouldn't have been written out of the show, especially not in such a dumb way. Though I am glad to have been given some kind of closure in the end.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

Early one morning in September, a fisherman on Lake Michigan had made a grisly discovery when he drew in his net. Nestled within hundreds of flopping bodies of fish was a skeleton. The flesh had been meticulously cleaned from the bones by the residents of the Great Lake, most trace evidence washed away by time spent in the watery grave except for a few scraps of mildewed clothing clinging stubbornly to the remains.

It wasn't much, but for Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan and her team at the Jeffersonian it was a gold mine. Anytime she had a nearly complete skeleton like this made her ecstatic. She was crouched by the body that had been laid out on a tarp on the shore with her assistant Zack Addy by her side, while her partner Detective Seeley Booth was finishing up talking with the fisherman who had discovered the corpse along with the local officers on the scene.

"My dad would take my brothers and I out on this lake some summers when I was younger. I never did enjoy fishing, but I found sailing pleasurable enough." Zack commented while he examined the bones, not expecting a response. Not when his mentor was 'in the zone' as Hodgins put it.

"So what have we got Bones?" Booth asked, strolling over to them and ignoring Zack as usual.

"I told you not to call me that. The victim was female, mid to late teens. What else Zack?" Brennan asked, knowing the answer but using any opportunity she could as a teaching moment.

A cursory glance of the pelvic bones and the sites of bone growth told him she was, of course, correct. "She was Caucasian, approximately 1.676 meters tall." the youngest squint replied.

Brennan nodded. "I concur." she agreed, Booth arching an eyebrow. "What is that in English?" he wondered. "Five feet, six inches." Brennan answered, standing and brushing off her pants. "We need to get this body to the Jeffersonian for a full analysis. These clothing scraps need to be looked at as well." she ordered.

"You heard the lady. Let's load this up and ship her out." Booth called to the Forensics Techs roaming around.

They moved to comply, but the loading of the body into a truck was interrupted when a sudden screeching of tires on dew soaked grass shattered the quiet morning air. A gray sedan came barreling out of a nearby parking lot, a window rolling down a hair as it swerved around in an arch away from them.

"GET DOWN!" Booth shouted, tackling Dr. Brennan to the ground. Everyone took cover as best they could, officers drawing their own weapons but having little time to use them as a gun peeked out from the car and shots exploded clumps of grass and mud around them for what seemed like forever, but was in reality a mere few seconds before the car was speeding away, a couple of shots taken by the officers as a few jumped in their cars to go after the fleeing suspects.

When the ringing in their ears finally stopped and a deathly hush fell on the scene, Booth cautiously looked up and pulled away from Brennan, who looked a bit disgruntled but grateful at the same time. "Everyone okay?" Booth called, everyone offering tentative confirmation.

"Yeah I believe so." Bones said, trying to keep her otherwise calm voice from quivering with the shock that always came with such a close call, even if she'd been through it before. It looked like the shooters hadn't been aiming to kill anyone, or had just been bad shots.

Then a small voice piped up that made her heart drop to her stomach, metaphorically speaking.

"Dr. Brennan... I think I've been shot..." Zack said weakly.

She slowly turned her head to look at her brilliant assistant, clutching his abdomen on the left side with a pained grimace. Crimson liquid was soaking through his clothes to pool under his pale, shaky hands and through his interlaced fingers. There was shock and some fear in his normally stoic brown eyes, now wide and almost pleading.

Booth leaped into action, commanding Brennan to support Zack's head and shoulders, shouting for someone to call an ambulance while putting pressure on the wound. "Slow, steady breaths Zack. I've seen worse, trust me." he said in an attempt to reassure the young scientist, though his voice was strained a bit with concern.

"Stay with us Zack..." Brennan said softly, out of her element now, brain struggling to process this situation, but knowing she had to remain collected for Zack's sake.

A cough shook Zack's slender frame, a trickle of blood coming out between his lips, attempting a sad, shaky smile. "I'm sorry... I don't know if I can..." he murmured, eyelids fluttering as the world spun around him and everything slowly faded to black.

 **It's late as I write this, so it's probably not my best work. I'm just getting started though. It's only a setup for the real story I want to tell, and I have trouble with that sometimes. I'm not completely into it yet. Read, review if you want, but no flames please.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This chapter is going to be a flashback chapter taking place in Zack's mind, which is why it's in italics. Next chapter will get to everyone else and what's happening on the outside. It'll switch back and forth.**

 _14 year-old Zack sat on a bench outside on the campus of the private school he'd been going to since Kindergarten when it was clear even then he wouldn't fair well in public school. After skipping a few grades, 4th, 9th, and 10th to be exact, he was now a senior despite his young age. He was small, shy, and as his siblings repeatedly lamented, 'far too smart for his own good'. Needless to say this didn't help his nonexistent popularity among his peers._

 _He picked at the Mac and Cheese that he'd been made for lunch, glad for even a moment's solace from the constant bullying. His mother said everyone was just jealous and not to worry about it. That was her advice for everything, though it had never been his intention to make anyone feel inferior. He loved her and the rest of his large family, but they couldn't understand. So he'd resigned himself to being alone with his thoughts that he could never seem to quiet all the way, even in sleep._

 _This was why he was surprised when a girl a few years older than he was sat beside him on the bench, stretching her arms above her head with a contented sigh before offering him a small smile of greeting. "You're Zack right? Boy genius around these parts?"_

 _Zack peered up at her through shaggy brown bangs, nodding. "Yes, I'm Zack." he_ _agreed, looking at her with curious puppy-like eyes._

 _She chuckled softly. "Well Zack, I'm Annabeth. Nice to meet_ _you kid. Mac and Cheese is a favorite of mine too." she said lightly._

 _Zack had to admit that objectively Annabeth was good looking. She had nice symmetrical features, her heart shaped face and lightly tanned skin framed by thick dark mahogany waves down past her shoulders that matched her dark eyes. But of course he couldn't express those thoughts aloud. "You can only be a few years older than me at most. And 'kid' refers to someone not yet in adolescence. Or a baby goat." he found himself saying instead._

 _Annabeth blinked, and then to his chagrin she just laughed as if she didn't have a care in the world. "You're cute, you know that? And I'm seventeen by the way, so not that much older. We're in the same grade. I had to take the long way here." she said with a wink._

 _Zack's pale cheeks flushed a bit. "I've been told as much before." he murmured._

 _Annabeth's eyes sparkled playfully and she ruffled his hair. "Oh you have? Don't let it get to your head now Zackaroni." she teased._

 _Zack wasn't sure what to make of the new nickname, or the girl sitting beside him. She didn't appear to be like anyone he had met here so far. Although that was a limited selection he would admit. "I don't know what that means." he deadpanned, honestly not sure what she thought would get to his head besides blood and oxygen._

 _She smirked. "I think we're going to be good friends you and I." she decided, quickly snatching one of his noodles despite his squeak of protest, and popped it in her mouth as she turned her face to the sky to enjoy the beautiful day._

 **Nothing like feeling like crap to get those creative juices flowing. It's not as long as the last, but I enjoyed writing it. So let me know what you think if you want to and I'll try to keep on writing. See you all around!**


	3. Chapter 3

"What do you mean he's not waking up?!" a worried and irate Jack Hodgins demanded of the doctor.

Booth and Brennan had driven behind the ambulance to the nearest hospital after the shooting. Brennan had stayed until Zack had been taken into surgery before heading back to the Jeffersonian to work the case, having reluctantly admitted to not being able to do anything more there. Booth stayed behind to keep everyone at the lab posted on Zack's condition.

Zack had been in surgery for a few hours before being brought to a room in the ICU, now laying in a bed hooked up to all manner of beeping monitors and tubes. In that time Hodgins had flown out to Michigan to visit and argue with any poor doctor or nurse trying to help his best friend. He knew he was needed at the lab, but had insisted on coming here first. When he'd had his say, he'd go back and do his job. If they needed him sooner they could call.

The doctor held a placating hand up. "The bullet perforated a section of Mr. Addy's liver and his left kidney. Fortunately it did not fully penetrate either organ and we were able to extract the bullet and stitch the damaged tissue. He's stable now and on fluids. His body will replace the lost blood in time. Your friends got him here just in time." he assured him.

"But?" Hodgins pressed.

The man sighed. "However, whether from blood loss, shock, or a combination, he slipped into a comatose state during surgery. Attempts were made at waking him, but to no avail. It can happen in trauma patients as a way for their body to facilitate healing. It's my professional opinion that when he's ready, he'll come to."

Hodgins snorted derisively. "Your professional opinion? Why don't you just admit you don't know squat about what's happening? He WILL wake up. You just do your job and make sure nothing else goes wrong okay?"

The doctor just nodded with a resigned frown, walking out of the room to talk with Booth, who was standing outside the door.

Hodgins sat in a chair by Zack's bed and clasped his hands as he studied his friend. He offered a faint smile even if he couldn't see it. "Hey there buddy. I hope you can hear me. It won't be the same trying to solve this case without you, but I feel like we've got to. If it's important enough for someone to try to scare us off like that. It didn't work, and they made a huge mistake by shooting you. Accident or not. Booth's people are tracking the sorry pricks down as we speak. I'll tell you what else we find out okay?" he promised.

He exhaled a weary breath and and cracked a typical smirk. "You'll be up in no time and we'll be back to doing experiments that piss everyone off." he teased, though there was a strain on his voice that he couldn't quite cover up. He bowed his head. "I've gotta believe that."

—

 _Meanwhile, at the Jeffersonian..._

Brennan, Angela, and Cam had been hard at work the last few hours trying to identify their victim and collect any other evidence they could from the remains.

With Zack incapacitated, Cam was helping Bones with determining cause of death while Angela was working on facial reconstruction to identify their victim.

Cam lifted the skull, still firmly attached to the spinal column, from the steel table, pointing to a series of web-like cracks on the occipital lobe, or the back of the head. "The pattern of these fractures suggests blunt force trauma. But from what?"

"I don't have the evidence to conclude that yet, but look here. There's also evidence of damage to the C-1 and C-2 vertebrae. The injuries aren't localized enough to have been made by a single, precise blow to the skull. More like she sustained multiple blows to the head and the neck was fractured as the force radiated." Brennan replied with a frown as she worked through various scenarios as to how this had occurred. She had a theory, but it was far too early to determine anything with absolute certainty. Besides, it was only a small piece of the puzzle.

"We'll keep working on that. If we can figure out where she was killed we may find clues about who killed her and how it happened. Someone has to know something even after this long." Cam suggested.

Hodgins determined that the body had been in that lake for approximately 10 years before he had left, but hadn't yet examined the clothing scraps for anything that may point to where her body had been before she'd been dumped. If it wasn't Zack that was in the hospital she never would have let him leave. A timeframe with no location would do them no good.

As if reading her mind, Angela peeked out of her computer lab. "I may be able to help with that actually. I got a hit on the sketch I made. I know who our victim is and her last location. You're not going to believe what else I found."

 **Turns out it's not that easy coming up with all the pieces to the puzzle that is solving a murder mystery. I'm kind of making it up as I go along, and although Forensics is actually my field of study, I'm no expert yet. I tried my best though. The science of the case isn't my main focus in this story, even if it is a major part of Bones. I'll add in enough to keep it true to the show, but my first priority is** **the mystery as a whole through Zack's memories,** **and secondly** **is the relationships between the characters, especially concerning Zack.**


	4. Chapter 4

_"So what's your story?" Annabeth asked one day in the cafeteria, chewing on a French fry. It was a little over a week since they'd first met, and for some reason she had taken to sitting with Zack at lunch at his table near the back of the room._

 _Now Zack didn't really mind, since she was the only one who did and it was kind of nice having company. But he didn't really understand why she would. She was pretty enough to draw attention from far more popular guys who would be more than happy to have her at their tables. She was also intelligent, and she could easily get whatever she wanted at this school. Yet none of that appeared to interest her._

 _"What are you referring to?" Zack wondered, eating his usual Macaroni._

 _She shrugged. "Why are you here?" she clarified._

 _Zack furrowed his brows. "My home is here in Michigan, this school is within reasonable driving distance, and now I live here during the school year. I have since Kindergarten."_

 _Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "We all do. It's a boarding school. You just said you've been here since you were what, 5? What's that about?" she questioned._

 _Zack frowned, confused. "I don't understand this line of questioning."_

 _She sighed. "Some kids are here on athletic scholarships and have to train full time. Others because their parents are rich and dumped them here before flying off somewhere on their private jet. What about you?" she asked again, Zack wondering if she was including herself in her statement._

 _He looked down at his plate. "I love my family, and they love me, but they don't understand me. My parents felt I wouldn't do well in public school, so they sent me here. My mom believed a boarding school would help me learn to socialize better than I would if I only spent a few hours a day among my peers. I visit on weekends and go home for the summer. There was never any reason to switch schools."_

 _"How's that working out?" Annabeth asked, only teasing and not meaning it maliciously._

 _"Not as well as my mom hoped. I have become no more popular in my years here. She's also tried singing lessons."_

 _Annabeth nearly choked on her French fry, a grin spreading across her features._

 _"Singing, really? You'll have to give me a performance some time."_

 _At Zack's nervous and slightly fearful look, she smirked. "Only when you're comfortable." she amended._

 _Zack nodded slowly, letting out a shaky breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Why do you sit with me?" he blurted._

 _Annabeth for once looked serious as she studied him thoughtfully. "You looked like you could use someone to talk with. But the biggest reason is that you're the only truly honest person I've ever met. Don't ever change that okay? Promise?"_

 _Zack found himself blushing again. "Promise." he agreed meekly._

 **Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to all of my lovely readers since it probably won't be until 2018 that I update again. I may sooner, but no promises, so I wanted to send out my best wishes now. This was just a fluff chapter as Zack and Annabeth were getting to know each other. I'm sorry that it was so short. I figured it was better than nothing. I do have a direction for all of this too, but I don't want to rush anything.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this took so long! My inspiration abandoned me, but I was determined to get it back. Plus now things have finally quieted down and I can focus on writing again when I'm not doing school work.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

Cam arched an eyebrow. "You found all that from your sketch?" she asked, impressed as she and Brennan joined Angela in her computer lab.

"Well yeah, but I don't think it'll be enough to solve the case or anything. I can't pinpoint exactly where she was when she died from this. But I can give you a place to start." Angela replied.

She pulled up a file and a teenage girl's picture came up. "Annabeth Asrani. 17 years old, moved to the states from Iran with her parents when she was six years old according to records. It looks like her parents were loaded too. They were big time CEOs of some oil conglomerate. I'm looking into it more." she said.

Cam squinted at the screen. "And no one reported her missing? That seems kind of odd for the daughter of a well-connected family like that."

Angela shrugged. "Well, I can guess she wasn't all that close with her parents. She was dumped off at a boarding school when she was fifteen. They were living in Lansing, only an hour's drive from the area you guys were Brennan. The boarding school she was at, it's only thirty minutes away."

Brennan frowned. "If her parents had something to do with her murder, that could explain why she was never reported missing." she suggested.

Cam furrowed her brows. "It's worth looking into. Angela and I will work on that. I think a visit to her school is also in order. Someone there might know something. Brennan, head back to Michigan and meet up with Booth and Hodgins at the hospital. You can see Zach and then head over to the school. Tell Hodgins to see if he can find any evidence that might tell us if she was killed near there or somewhere else." she decided.

Angela and Brennan nodded. "Angela, you said there was something you found that we wouldn't believe. What were you referring too?" Brennan asked her friend curiously.

Angela's eyes widened, having almost forgotten. Shame on her. "Oh yeah! So the boarding school she went to is called Cranbridge. I emailed them and got them to email me a list of students and staff there from ten years ago. Look who else went there." she replied, swiveling around in her chair to face her computer and pulled up the student list. There near the top was the name _Zachary Addy_.

Brennan and Cam both raised their brows in surprise. The name of the school had sounded familiar to Brennan, as she had surely read it in Zach's resume, but it had been tucked away in her long term memory somewhere. And to find out there was a connection with a decade old case that had resurfaced now was indeed hard to believe.

"Small change of plans. We need to talk with Zach's family first." Cam amended.


End file.
